England will win on Saturday and, barring a massive upset, they will win with a very hefty margin. That’s not the game for Scotland, though.
For them, it’s about how many shots can they fire, how much trouble can they pose, how accurate and ruthless can they be when opportunities are created and for how long can they hold back the English tide.
“It’s just relentless from them,” Skeldon says. “They’re a very physical team. They’re world champions for a reason.
“For us, it’s about the small wins. We’re obviously watching the scoreboard and we’re trying to win the game, but we’re just trying to win those small battles as we go and being proud of the performance that we put in.
“We’ve got to show what we’ve got because I think, as a team, if you look at us over the last five years, we’ve grown massively. I’m just excited to have another chance against the best in the world, just to give us a gauge of where we’re at.”
Is there a danger of a near-invincible England intimidating them? “I don’t think so. There’s a difference between respecting someone and being intimidated by them. We very much respect them, but we’re not intimidated by them.
“We want to challenge them. In the World Cup quarter-final, we gave a really good account of ourselves. We’ve earned a bit of respect from them.”
With respect comes the prospect of England being laser-focused on Murrayfield and that’s a scary prospect. For many, but maybe not for Skeldon.
She’s been through the worst of what England can throw at her and she’s still standing, still improving and still loving every second of the fight.
